Various hydroprocessing technologies have proposed the use of an enhanced hot separator (EHS) in the reactor effluent system. The function of the EHS is to strip a certain amount of light material out of the liquid phase reactor effluent stream. The EHS typically combines gross separation of recycle vapor from liquid within a packed or trayed stripping column that achieves additional vapor stripping.
However, the liquid component fed to the EHS may contain recycle liquid which does not need to be stripped. In this case, the quantity of stripping vapor required may limit the performance of the system. In addition, there is an increased risk for liquid drop entrainment from the gross separation section.